Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion belongs to Gainax and Hideaki Anno. This is simply a piece of fanfiction based on the series. There, now since that's out of the way...
-
Chapter 03: Dealing with Cards
-
"SHINJI YOU PERVERT!"
Muffled shouts from the dining room woke Misato with a start. Her hands slowly felt around in the dark, hunting for her alarm clock. Due to her groggy confusion from waking up so suddenly it took quite a while to find something that was just two feet beside her. She picked it up, held the clock to her face and groaned as she read the time.
-Jeez, its 4:30 in the damn morning! What the hell are they fighting about now?- she thought as she got up, rapidly getting angrier by the minute. She had never been a morning person and being jerked awake this way did wonders to heat her temper. By the time she threw her door open , revealing the guilty pair as they continued to yell at each other, Misato was a seething mass of early morning grouchiness.
"Would you two shut up? Some of us are trying to sleep!" Misato snapped.
Both Shinji and Asuka jumped in surprise when Misato's door gave a loud 'thwack' as it hit the wall hard. The redhead looked as if she herself just woke up. Her hair was disheveled and the oversized pink cotton shirt that she wore, with its light yellow teddy bear stitched at the lower left corner, was visibly bed-wrinkled. In contrast, Shinji appeared fresh out of a bath. His hair was slightly damp with an equally damp towel draped over his neck, and he was wearing a fresh shirt and shorts.
"It's this pervert's fault!" Asuka began, pointing an accusing finger at the boy. "I just got up and was about to use the bathroom when I noticed him waiting inside, naked!"
"I WAS NOT WAITING INSIDE!" Shinji said hotly even before Asuka finished. "I was taking a bath when YOU walked in on ME!"
"Hmph. Yeah right. What kind of idiot takes a bath this early in the morning, anyway?" Asuka sniffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "If I didn't know better I'd say that you were waiting for Faye-chan. I swear, living with four women finally pushed you over the edge and brought out the pervert in you."
"Hmm? Who was waiting for me?" Faye yawned.
Misato turned at the sound of the girl's voice and found her leaning against the open door to her room, covering her mouth with a hand. She wore a clinging, dark green nighty with matching silk shorts. A few moments later Rei emerged from her room as well, standing in her matching light blue pajamas while rubbing her eyes sleepily.
"Shinji was. Right inside the bathroom, too." Asuka said smugly, ignoring Shinji's indignant sqwawk.
"I was not waiting for anybody! If anybody's at fault, it's you! You didn't even knock!"
"I ALWAYS use the bathroom at this hour. Nobody else uses it this early and I never needed to knock before."
"Well, somebody was using them today. The lights were on, for crying out loud! You should have noticed that someone else was inside before you went barging in."
"How should I know? I thought Misato left it open before she went to bed. That's no excuse for you to go ambush me, you know."
"Why would I even bother waiting at the bathroom at this early? And who would want to 'ambush' you?"
"That's because you're a PERVERT!"
"You...s-stupid girl!"
"What did you say?"
Misato rubbed her fingers around her temples as the shouting resumed. -Ohh, my head's starting to hurt. Damn kids.- "Shinji-kun.", she interrupted firmly, cleanly cutting off the racket. "Why WERE you taking a bath this early, anyways?" She fixed him with a knowing look. "You weren't thinking of going to school by yourself, were you? I thought I specifically told you last night that you should all go together?"
Shinji shifted uncomfortably before answering. "No! I..ah..I just wanted to get up early..and..help fix breakfast." the boy finished weakly.
"If he wants to go on ahead to school by himself, let him." Asuka sniffed dismissively. "Who'd want to go with a pervert anyway?" Shinji visibly wilted from the redhead's announcement.
"It's part of your orders, Asuka-chan." Misato sighed.
"Well, they're stupid if you ask me." Asuka declared as she moved toward the empty bathroom, brushing past Shinji. "I just want you to know that if you left any hidden cameras inside, I'll find them."
"There's nothing the-!" Shinji tried protesting and was cut off as the girl slammed the bathroom door shut behind her.
"Fascinating. Are you guys always this lively?" Faye yawned again, stretching. "And do we really have to wake up this early everyday?" she asked plaintively.
-Oh god, I sure hope not.- Misato fervently wished. "Well, you guys have to be at school before 8, so I guess that you'd normally have to be up by 6 or so." she said out loud as she turned back to her bedroom.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going back to sleep since Shinji-kun so kindly volunteered to make us breakfast." Misato said lazily as she stretched, giving the boy a 'you-better-do-it' look. Shinji gave her a weak smile.
"Ah..I'd like..to help with breakfast." Rei said hesitantly.
Misato froze and turned to Rei in surprise. "You know how to cook, Rei-chan?"
Rei nodded. "A little. I've been teaching myself recently."
-Well I'll be. Isn't this is a pleasant surprise.- Misato was amazed at the quiet girl's revelation. "Sure thing. I'm pretty sure Shinji-kun can use all the help he can get." she said. With a wave of her hand she went back inside her room and quietly closed the door behind her.
-Ahh. Now were was I?- she thought dreamily as she sank down to her still warm futon.
--
The irregular tapping of chalk as it struck the blackboard was the only sound that broke the still silence inside the classroom. Faye, her blonde hair tied neatly behind her with a black silk ribbon and dressed in one of Asuka's spare school uniforms, finally finished writing her name and turned to the class.
"Good Morning. I'm Faye Sarah Neumann. Nice to meet all of you." she said, bowing formally.
"Welcome to the school, Faye-san." the elderly teacher said before pointing to an empty chair near the middle of the classroom. "Please take your seat over there."
As she made her way to her chair Faye noticed the amount of eyes that followed her, especially those of the boys in the class. Almost all of them had expressions of mindless, rapt attention. Atleast the girls only eyed her admiringly, although the blonde pilot noted that some had flushed faces as amorous as the boys'. -Oh, brother.- she sighed to herself as she sat down.
"Alright, class. Open your history textbooks to pag..."
Faye noticed that Asuka was signalling her; pointing to the notebook in front of her then back to herself. When she turned the device on a hail of messages immediately bombarded the screen. Nearly all of them were obviously from infatuated classmates, with message titles like 'Do you have a boyfriend?' or 'You are so pretty. I think I'm in love!' and such. She shook her head as she scrolled down through more of the same until she saw Asuka's blank message, which she promptly opened.
'I take it you're not too happy with all the attention?' Asuka's message read.
Faye made a face as she typed. 'If you only knew. What's with the boy's here? They all act like love-starved puppies. They think that's cute, Feh. And the amount of attention some of the girls are giving me is starting to creep me out.'
'Believe me, I know what you mean. They all behaved the same way when I came in, too.' Asuka replied. 'Don't waste your time on the boys here, though. I'm pretty sure none's your type. Oh, and expect your footlocker to be full of letters later.'
'Really? What makes you say that? And why will my footlocker be full of letters?' Faye asked. While she wasn't particularly interested with the boys due to how big a turn-off their behavior toward her had been, she was eager to pursue this conversation rather than listen to the teacher's droning voice. A casual glance behind her told her that most of the class shared her opinion; her classmates blatantly eating, reading manga, sleeping, or chatting over the class network through their notebooks.
'They're all immature brats.' Faye winced, feeling Asuka's contempt coming from something as emotionless as her text message. -Ouch.- she thought as she continued to read. 'The letters will all be more of the same messages that you're getting right now, just handwritten. Apparently its some stupid old custom with the students in Japan.' Faye shook her head in exasperation over that one. 'I'd be careful of the girls though; some are almost as bad as the boys. Oh, and I'd like you to meet my friend Hikari Horaki. She's the girl in front of me.'
Faye looked over and saw Asuka and Hikari smiling as they waved at her. A moment later Hikari joined their silent conversation.
'Hello Faye-san. I'm Hikari. Nice to meet you.'
'Hello Horaki-san. You're the class president, right?' Faye typed.
'Yes she is.' It was Asuka who replied. 'It's just a mystery why a girl with such a good head on her shoulders could have a crush on one of the boys in our class.'
Faye saw a red faced Hikari round on Asuka, saying a few words in a strangled whisper before her next message appeared on the screen.
'I just can't believe you, Asuka-chan! Besides, Touji's different from the boys here.'
'Relax, Hikari-chan. I'm sure Faye-chan won't run around and tell everybody your secret. Although I think I'll never understand what it is you see in that guy.'
Faye giggled as she read the exchange between the two friends. 'Don't be too hard on him, Asuka-chan.' the blonde typed. 'I'm sure that Horaki-san has a very good reason for liking the guy. Where is he, by the way?'
'He's that guy in black behind Shinji.' Asuka answered. 'He was also the former pilot of the first Eva-03.'
-I guess that explains the crutches.- Faye mused as she glanced at Touji. She heard what happened to the first Eva-03 back in America; her trainers were kind enough to let her know of the kind of danger a full-time Eva pilot faces. Although obviously injured, the boy still had the gall to put his bandaged legs on top of his desk as he listened to the teacher's lecture.
Letting her gaze wander from Touji, her attention shifted on her other co-pilots. -Hmm. Shinji seems to be pretty popular. Probably chatting with his friends.- she noted as the boy, with an odd expression on his face, was very busy typing away on his notebook. Her eyes settled on Rei, who was currently staring out the window.
'Asuka-chan, does Rei have any friends?' Faye asked through the notebook.
'Her? I doubt it. Heck, I still find it hard to believe that she can cook.' the redhead replied.
The blonde frowned. 'Why? She was living on her own before, right?'
'It's a long story, Faye-chan.'
'Ayanami-san can cook? Wow, I never knew that. How did you find out?' Hikari asked.
'She made breakfast with Shinji this morning. I'm sure that the idiot was the one who made the toast; that's the only thing he can -cook- that's edible. She probably made the rest. It was pretty good, too.' Asuka confessed to her friend.
'How come she was at your place so early?'
'She's living with us too.'
'Really?'
'Yep. Make sure you keep it to yourself though, Hikari-chan.'
Faye tapped her lip for a moment before typing. -Can I invite her to join us here?-
'Don't bother. You can try, but I'm sure she doesn't even have her notebook on.' Asuka replied.
'She knows that we have pilot training this afternoon, right?'
'Don't worry about her. She never misses her schedule.'
After reading the message Faye let the issue of inviting Rei go. She breezed through the rest of the classes, mainly thanks to the company Asuka and Hikari provided her with. However, when the lunch bell finally chimed and the two friends came over, inviting her to eat with them, she firmly decided that she was going to invite Rei along as well.
---
Meanwhile, Shinji had his hands full from the moment Faye was introduced as a new Evangelion pilot. It was an obvious assumption for nearly anybody that most of the boys, and some of the girls, would be more inclined to milk information regarding Faye from him rather than ask the girl directly. So for nearly the entire morning he was constantly dodging questions concerning the new girl.
-I should have never turned this thing on.- he sighed glumly as he answered another 'Does she have a boyfriend?' message for the Nth time with another 'I don't know.'. -It's a good thing nobody knows she's living with us, or I'm really going to get it.- he shuddered at the thought.
'Shinji!' It was Kensuke this time. 'How can she be selected as an Eva pilot? She's not even Japanese!'
Shinji sighed again, typing away. 'I don't know, Kensuke. She was selected by NERV from America, so I guess that means that she's ok.'
'What? But I thought all the pilot's were supposed to be Japanese?' Kensuke protested.
'Well, Asuka's half German, isn't she? Besides, the Eva came from America, so shouldn't they get to pick its pilot?' Shinji pointed out gently.
'I guess. Aww, damn. I just wish it could have been me.' Kensuke answered. Just then the lunch bell chimed from the school speakers, and he stood with the class as they bowed to the teacher. As Shinji rose he glanced at the new, flashing message from his friend.
-By the way, Touji's right behind you.-
With a gasp Shinji whirled around and found Touji smirking behind him. "Yo!" the other boy greeted, struggling to get up.
"Touji!" Shinji said as he immediately helped his friend stand. "You're ok! I didn't even hear you enter the class! When did you get out of the hospital?"
"Yesterday." Touji answered, wincing as he limped to one of his crutches. "I got nothing to do at home, so I figured that I might as well go to school. You got any lunch?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"Good. Let's go eat then. Kensuke's already here." the boy said, nodding to their friend.
"Yo, Shinji! Aren't you going with them?" Kensuke said as he approached, pointing to the departing group consisting of Asuka, Faye, Hikari and Rei.
"Nah. C'mon, let's help Touji walk over to the bench." Shinji replied, taking one of Touji's arms.
"Ow! Hey! Easy over there! Don't drag me!" Touji complained to both his friends as they supported him, one on each arm.
While they walked with the injured boy Shinji felt the euphoria of seeing his friend burn off. In its place the familiar spectre of his guilt at being the cause of the boy's injury suddenly resurfaced, the pain of it stabbing at his chest like a hot knife. He tried to think of something appropriate to say by way of an apology; something to comfort Touji and take away the burning pain that he himself felt. Yet try as he might, words failed him.
"Touji. I'm so sorry about all this." was all he could say in the end, the words leaving his mouth in a low voice filled with remorse as they continued to walk. The injured boy stared straight ahead for a few long moments, then sighed as he turned to Shinji.
"Ah, what the hell? I'm sure it ain't your fault anyway." he answered with a smile. "Besides, I think I got the better end of the deal. Sure, I hurt all over right now, but I'll heal eventually and my sister's cured thanks to her treatment in NERV's hospital. I didn't even have to pay for anything!" he finished with a laugh.
Shinji brightened at that last bit. "Really? Your sister's alright now?
"Yep. Energetic as hell." Touji grinned. "In fact, she almost kicked me back to my futon when she learned that I planned to go to school today."
"Glad to hear it." Shinji grinned back. He felt the wonderful sensation of his guilt lifting, his chest finally being free of such a dark, heavy burden. -I'm glad it's finally over with.- he thought as he drew a deep, relieved breath.
"So." Touji began, giving Shinji a sly look. "What's the deal with this Faye chick?" his grin widened.
"Ack!" Shinji coughed, caught completely off-guard.
"She's NERV's new pilot from America." Kensuke said sullenly from Touji's other side.
"I know that, moron." the injured boy said as he rolled his eyes. "I meant the important stuff. You know; is she nice, how hot is she, has Shinji seen her naked; those kinds of things."
"Well, she's nice. And certainly pretty." Shinji blushed with his head down, not meeting his friends' hungry looks.
"Have you seen her naked?" Touji pressed.
Shinji shook his head vigorously. "No! I wouldn't do anything like that!"
"Aww, c'mon man! You're no fun." the injured boy said plaintively.
"Listen, Shinji." Kensuke whispered conspiratorially as he leaned towards the other boy. "If you're gonna peek on someone, go peek at Misato-san. Then tell us all about it!"
"You said it, Kensuke!" Touji agreed ardently. "No girl could ever compete against the charm of such a beautiful woman. Ahh, Misato-san..."
"I can't do that! If she catches me she'll kill me!" Shinji protested.
"C'mon Shinji! Be a man!" Touji berated in a puffed-up tone even as he continued limping.
-Hmph. Look who's talking. You can't even walk straight.- "Absolutely not!" Shinji flatly refused.
The sounds of indignation and laughter followed the three friends as they made their way to eat lunch together.
----
NERV's underground training facility rang from bursts of dummy round fire as Eva 00, Eva 02 and Eva 03 all went through the scheduled training routine. Pilot chatter though the comm-link was broadcasted inside the control room; a necessary data to be monitored yet undoubtedly contributing to the overall noise. Ritsuko all ignored them with practised ease as she studied the performance of the three girls.
"Current pilot readings?" the scientist asked, her eyes not leaving the screen.
"Harmonics are normal for all pilots. Syncronization ratio report: Eva 00 at 82.54 percent; Eva 02 at 92.68 percent; Eva 03 at 74.25 percent." Maya read from her screen.
-Hmm. Just about what I expected.- Ritsuko observed, watching Eva 03. -Her movement is markedly slower than Rei's. From the way she's handling that recoil it's also obvious that she's not used to firing a regular positron rifle yet. Better let her concentrate on being ranged backup first.- she concluded before shifting her attention on Eva 00.
-Rei is still pretty much the same. Her performance places her as a top support unit, and a second choice for point assignments. We thought that data from the past months pointed to an apparent sync ceiling of about 80 percent or so for her, but recently she seems to be improving slightly.- she mused, then turned to watch Eva 02.
-It's Asuka that has me worried.- Ritsuko thought, allowing a slight frown to grace her brow before putting out another query to her team. "What's Asuka's current physical reading?"
"Heart rate normal. Brain waves normal. Blood pressure and LCL oxygen levels normal. Green as go, Sempai." Maya replied.
-Then why is she just standing there with the other two? Normally she'd be all over the place going melee.- Ritsuko worried, her frown deepening. "Everything alright, Asuka?" she asked the redhead directly, hailing her through the comm-link.
"Yeah. What's up, Ritsuko?" Asuka answered.
"Mind if I ask why you're so...calm? Aren't you the least bit excited that your sync ratio's back and even better than normal?" the scientist pressed.
"Heh. Don't worry about me. You know I'll clear the routine in less than 5 minutes if I go all out." the fiery girl chuckled. Strangely Ritsuko noticed that there was hardly any trace of her usual haughty demeanor. "I just thought that you guys might like to train Rei or Faye a bit more. Besides, I think that I really ought to get the hang of being in support detail." Asuka finished, sounding a bit rueful toward the end.
Ritsuko goggled at the girl for a moment before shaking her head in disbelief. -Unbelievable. Did I just hear all that from HER?- she wondered. "Are you sure about this?"
"What are you asking me for? You're the boss." came the light reply as Eva 02 expertly fired another calculated salvo, effectively taking out two dummies.
That snapped Ritsuko back to business. "Alright then. Rei, discard your rifle and equip yourself with any progressive melee weapon." On cue a nearby storage bin snapped open, revealing an array of close-range combat armament. Rei laid the rifle down as she surveyed the items and after a few moments picked a one-handed sword and a matching shield. With a flick of a thumb she turned the weapon on, its blade humming menacingly.
"Good." the scientist continued as a dense knot of dummies appeared in far side of the room.. "Now, your target is the dummy in the center. Support detail orders are to prioritize ALL dummies that target point. Rei will be point; Asuka and Faye will be support. If you are targeted, you are NOT to shoot back unless the dummy targets Rei. Understood?"
"Understood." Rei said in a determined voice as Eva 00 took a ready stance, shield in front.
"Sounds fun!" Asuka laughed as Eva 02 discarded the rifle in favor of two pistols.
"I don't know how you can say that, Asuka-chan." Faye sighed as Eva 03 slapped a fresh magazine into its empty rifle. "Those dummy's attacks HURT, you know."
Ritsuko smiled as she heard the exchange over the comm-link. -Maybe Asuka finally grew up somewhat. In any case, with her being less aggressive it is a good opportunity to start intensive teamwork training. I'll also give enough time for Rei and Faye to catch up and improve individually.- "Ready?" she asked, and after a moment all three voiced affirmative.
"Start!" Ritsuko barked, admiring the way the three girls blazed through their targets.
-----
For nearly a week the days went by smoothly, although the inhabitants of Misato's apartment might say otherwise.
The second day after Faye moved in the blonde pilot met PenPen, the apartment's last 'tennant'. That is, after the penguin shocked her by jumping out of his freezer when the girl curiously opened it, thinking there was ice-cream inside. Once she stopped screaming and calmned down enough to have things explained to her she actually grew fond of the animal, saying it was 'cute'.
Rei's cooking became the group's morning staple, with the others taking turns in helping her; all of them except Misato, of course. The purple haired woman claimed that nothing tastes better than her favorite instant ramen, although everyone noticed that she heartily digs in and wolfs down anything that Rei can manage to dish out. Asuka and Faye particularly enjoyed cooking with the quiet girl, atleast if ever they woke up early enough to help.
The girls had two other intense training routines over the week. Ritsuko and Misato both noted approvingly that the results were spectacular for such a short time: Faye's sync ratio rose from 75 percent to 79 percent, Rei's from 82 percent to 84 percent, and Asuka's holding at 93 percent. More importantly, with Asuka's new found attitude toward her co-pilots their level of teamwork has risen dramatically, allowing Rei to gain more experience with point level assignments and Faye to improve on both her shooting and melee skills. In contrast, Shinji was still on isolated training. His sync ratio was holding at close to 95 percent, and his overall skills with any type of weapon or assignment were still excellent.
Back in the apartment, the boy had taken to using the bathroom even earlier than his previous attempt in an effort to avoid any contact with the girls during the early morning shower rush that might lead to any "awkward" situation. Having known both Rei and Asuka for quite some time now the boy was pretty much comfortable around them, but Faye was another matter. With his timid nature and low self confidence coupled with the blonde girl's penchant for clinging or revealing outfits, Shinji usually avoided being alone with his newest co-pilot.
When friday eventually arrived everybody breathed a sigh of relief, each for their own reasons. The pilots were eager to rest up from school while NERV personnel were grateful for the continued silence of any Angelic activity. None of them had any inkling as to the events that were to happen at dawn the next day.
------
:FRIDAY, 2226 hours:
That night was relatively colder than normal for a summer evening, with Misato off at NERV for an all-nighter. Shinji and the others were freshened up for the night lounging by the living room as they watched TV. To everybody's surprise Faye suddenly whipped out a deck of special cards and invited them to play.
"What this?" Asuka asked curiously as she examined the deck box, turning it over.
"It's called 'UNO'." Faye explained as she sat cross-legged on the carpeted floor. "It's a very fun and popular card game in America."
"I..don't know." Shinji said uncertainly, trying his best not to ogle at the girls in their sleep clothes. "We've all got training tomorrow morning, right?"
"Don't be such a prick. C'mon." Asuka said, sitting down next to Faye. When Rei silently sat opposite of the redhead, Shinji helplessly sank down to the carpet as well.
"Ok, here are the rules." Faye began, explaining the relatively simple rules of the card game while dealing out the cards for all four of them.
"Hmm. That's all there is to it? I'd bet that this game is simple enough that even an idiot like Shinji can win a game or two." Asuka declared when Faye finished her explanation.
"If you say so, Asuka-chan." Faye answered as she settled down. "Here we go. 4 Blue!" Before long all four had cards played on the discard pile and the game was well underway.
"Draw 2!" Asuka cried at one point, tossing a red card over the pile and grinning impishly at Shinji as she flashed her remaining 3 cards at everybody.
-Hmph. We'll see about that.- Shinji thought excitedly as he studied his own cards. He didn't even notice the grin that crept on his face in anticipation of getting to screw Asuka's plan over. "Reverse!"
"Hmph. Is that the best you can do?" the redhead sniffed before turning to Faye. "I'm sorry, Faye-chan. Draw 2." this time, she placed a green card and grinned as she took her remaining two cards in each hand.
"I ain't drawing anything. Draw 2. Your turn, Rei-chan." Faye said as placed another green card.
There was a moment of silence as Rei seemed to be at a loss on what to do next. However, Shinji's eyes widened when he saw the blue haired girl start to pick one of her cards.
-No! How many cards am I supposed to draw now?- he thought, watching in dismay as she slowly place her card on top of the discard pile.
"Draw 4." she said softly, revealing a special draw/colorless card. Then she turned to Shinji, her eyes lighting up in expectation.
"Umm, Rei-chan? You have to pick a color." Faye reminded her.
-Oh god, please let it be something I can use!- Shinji prayed fervently, watching Rei taking her moment.
"Red."
-YES!- Shinji exclaimed silently, his excitement surging until he saw that the only thing he can use was a red 'skip' card. The implications of playing that card made him hesitate, but his euphoria over the game allowed him to overcome his shyness toward Faye.
"Ahh.. sorry , Faye-san." he apologized as he showed his card to everybody. "This is the only thing I can play."
Faye made a face. "Jeez, you guys learn real fast, don't you? I'm not done yet though. Back to you!" she called, this time playing a gold 'skip' card.
-Gold? Whew! Still safe. Good thing I've got two of these.- "Sorry, Ayanami." Shinji said as he played a gold 'reverse' card.
"Skip."
"Nice try Rei-chan but it seems that I win this game and Shinji gets to draw after all!" Asuka cried triumphantly, revealing her 2nd to the last card to be a gold 'draw'.
Shinji was so delighted and surprised by the turn of events that he couldn't help but turn to the redhead and grin wickedly; the kind of smile that gives a person the urge to count his fingers after a handshake. Watching Shinji for a few moments wiped Asuka's smugness off her face.
"Dont you dare!" she breathed.
Shinji, ever so slowly and with exaggerated emphasis, lowered his chosen card and revealed it to be his last golden 'reverse'.
"GODDAMN YOU, SHINJI! I SWEAR I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS!" the redhead howled as she began drawing all 12 cards, making Shinji lose his control and guffaw despite his best effort to stifle it. Pretty soon Faye joined him with her own mirthful peals and even more surprising, Shinji noticed Rei red faced, giggling behind her hand as well. If he wasn't so caught up in laughing his guts out he'd have mentioned it, but as it was he clutched his sides and gasped for breath.
Asuka opened her mouth and seemed about to say something scalding to the boy when she noticed Rei laughing with them. With a shake of her head she decided against it and just sulked.
"Hahaha. Very funny."
The four children played well into the night, forgetting sleep as they filled the apartment with warmth and laughter. Much to Asuka's frustration she lost every game, and much to everybody else's surprise it was Rei who won every single time. Shinji had so much fun that he didn't even feel the slightest twinge of awkwardness with the idea that all of them was sharing in this particular moment, which he normally would under different circumstances. He couldn't remember the last time he was this happy and was glad for the opportunity to bond with his 'friends', now feeling closer and more comfortable with all of them than he ever did before.
-------
:SATURDAY, 0314 hours:
NERV received a strange distress signal from far out the coast of old Tokyo. Misato was well into her nap, spawled over her table with a thin line of spittle dripping from the side of her mouth when she was jerked awake by somebody calling her name.
"Wha?" she groggily answered, wiping her mouth with her sleeve.
"Major? We've been contacted by a fishing fleet some 80 kms east of Old Tokyo bay. They mentioned something about netting a large, unknown object barely thirty minutes ago. They were requesting that we meet them over at the harbour to oversee it's disposal."
Misato stood and quickly strode to the main control room, the last vestiges of sleep all but gone. "Hyuga-kun," she called to her tech specialist as soon as she arrived, "do we have any visuals on that fishing fleet?"
"If that's what you call them, Katsuragi-san." Hyuga snorted from his console. "I'll put them up. I got them off-Sat a few minutes ago."
On cue a series of still images and a live feed appeared on the main screen. The pictures showed four small boats and a fairly large sized tug as they sailed in formation across the water, one boat in front and three at the back of the tug. However, what got Misato interested was that the small boats, while crude, appeared armed and that the large ship looked heavily plated with some sort of metal.
-Its a damn smuggling run.- Misato realized after a moment. The live feed showed more of the same as the boats steadily made their way toward mainland.
"Did you confirm their claim?"
"That's what I'm trying to find out right now. That tug's scrambling the scan with all that lead over it." Hyuga explained. For a few moments he kept muttering his breath, seemingly trying to work out the details of the problem by himself. Misato simply watched him and waited.
"This is the best I could do." he apologized after a minute, showing a zoomed image of the tug boat tinted in red. Misato ignored the white dots seemingly scattered at random all over the vessel, whom she assumed were people, and concentrated instead on the signal splotched over the area of the cargo hold. A distorted white outline was clearly visible, and to Misato's eye it looked vaguely humanoid.
It was also, at the very least, undoubtedly as large as an Evangelion.
Misato studied the image in silence for a few more moments then briskly began to give out orders. "Get me the full details about that fleet. I want to know where it came from, how long was it at sea, the works. And somebody call up Dr. Akagi." Her voice turned grim. "It seems our 'fishermen' caught themselves an Angel."
--------
:SATURDAY, 0327 hours:
"That's all the data we have, Commander."
Misato stood stone-faced inside Gendou's office barely a few minutes after the fleet sighting, reporting the current situation and presenting all the data her team was able to gather. From what she herself learned from the reports the fleet originated from America. It left from Port Kingston in Arizona with a cargo manifest that was obviously fake; they made their way to the port of Hawaii's Mauna Loa island, before apparently continuing on to Hong Kong's modest port of Sai Kung. Whatever happened out in the ocean seemed to force them to head for Old Tokyo instead. From what she can see, either the fleet did catch a dormant, incapacitated or dead angel as they did their business under the sea or over the ocean; or that they already had the angel onboard from the moment they left America.
-What the hell is he thinking about?- Misato wondered, watching Gendou pore over the papers, shuffling from one to the next after an intense, momentary study. However, he visibly froze when he finally got to the ship cargo manifest report. Misato could have sworn that she saw his eyes widen as he read the data from the paper.
"Are you sure about the authenticity of your reports, Major Katsuragi?" he asked in a guarded tone.
Misato frowned. -What the hell did he see there? I went through that nearly twice and all I read was a bunch of heavy construction and industrial grade rubble off for recycling.- "Of course." she answered evenly.
Gendou stayed silent for a few more moments as he continued to scrutinize the report. When he finally lowered the paper and spoke, Misato saw an intense light of expectation and yearning in her commander's eyes.
"Gather all the pilots and sortie the Units in an operation to acquire the cargo at all costs. Have Units 00, 02 and 03 deployed in the immediate vicinity of Old Tokyo Harbour. Unit 01 is to be deployed as backup, positioned at a considerable distance from the port. Contact the harbour management and inform them that NERV will be using their facility as a temporary command center during this emergency." He stood up. "We leave immediately."
-He's coming with us?- Misato thought as her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Pardon me, Commander." she asked in a neutral voice. "Do you have an idea as to what the cargo is?"
Gendou studied her for a moment, his face with the usual impassive mask that he always wore. "Just as your report says, Major." he answered smoothly, brushing past her as he walked to the door. "The 'fishermen' caught themselves quite a prize."
---------
:SATURDAY, 0538 hours:
Rei felt her jaw creak as she let out a yawn, although in the LCL filled cockpit of Eva 00 the air that escaped from her mouth turned into a series of bubbles. She realized that this was her very first time to go through a day without sleeping, but then she had never experienced something quite like last night.
It was just before 3:40 in the morning when she and the others, still filled with the euphoria of playing UNO, was startled by a number of NERV personnel banging loudly at the front door. Within 20 minutes she and the other pilots were already suited and inside NERV's war room, being briefed by Misato and Ritsuko on the details of operation 'Kingfisher'.
'Alright guys, here's how the operation would go.' Rei remembered Misato begin. 'Asuka, you'll be point. Rei and Faye, you'll be Asuka's backup. Point is to wait here. Rei, you stay at B. Faye at C.' Misato said as she pointed to the corresponding points on the projected map. 'The mission objectives are to protect the cargo acquisition team at the pier, and to initiate emegency cargo acquisition procedures should the situation require it.'
'What? Emergency Cargo Acquisition? Are we supposed to be delivery girls, now?' Asuka tried to complain but her yawn spoiled the attempt.
'Um, Misato-san? What about me?' Shinji asked.
'You are still in reserve.' Misato answered, giving the boy an unreadable look. 'For some reason the Commander felt that this mission was so important that he ordered you to be deployed in the within vicinity of the operation site, although still quite a ways from the port.' She pointed at an empty circle in the map.
'I still say this sucks. They could have just waited till morning, you know.' Asuka grumbled, her tone grouchy.
'Oh, don't mind her Katsuragi-san, Akagi-san.' Faye said gaily, ignoring Asuka's alarmed look. 'Asuka's just upset because she didn't get to win a single game of cards despite claiming that the game was, and I quote: 'simple enough for an idiot to win a game or two'.' the blonde grinned.
'Faye-chan! I can't believe you told them that!' Asuka's plaintive tone set off another round of laughter from the other three pilots, much to Misato and Ritsuko's confusion.
Rei can't help but smile as she remembered that moment. She had no idea that being with others and sharing such experiences with them could bring so much joy and happiness. While she was aware of the concept of laughter, she never got to experience it till last night.
-I have never laughed before and was always confused why other people bothered with it.- she wondered. -Yet last night, with all of them, it felt like the most natural thing in the world. I couldn't even help myself; I suddenly had this urge to laugh, and did so without meaning to. Is this why people laugh? Do they get to feel all those wonderful things that I felt last night?-
-Feels nice, doesn't it? Having friends you can play and have fun with is the best thing in the world.-
There it was again; that mysterious whisper that danced in Rei's head with child-like exuberance. Yet she knew better than to pursue where the errant thought came from. Instead she allowed herself to reflect on what it told her.
-Friends? Yesterday, was I 'playing with friends'?- the blue haired girl thought, awed by the implications of the notion. -Being with them all felt so...wonderful. Will I get to experience that again? With them? Do they truly regard me as such?-
"What's the matter, Rei-chan? You look like you're thinking about something really deep. What? Did I startle you?" Rei jumped in surprise when a comm-link screen suddenly popped open, revealing Faye as she yawned inside her cockpit.
-What's this? Why is she talking to me? What do I say?- Rei had never panicked before, but the blonde caught her at a really private and vulnerable moment. With her feeling all these raw emotions and her mind filled with unfamiliar thoughts, coupled with the girl suddenly popping out of the blue, she was deeply embarrased and distressed by her loss of words and was desperately trying to find something to say.
"Ah.." she blurted, blushing a deep red.
"Aha! You're blushing! How cute." Faye teased.
"Hey, take it easy on her. She's probably still pretty high from winning all those games." Asuka's said as her screen popped up from beside Faye.
"And you're still grouchy for losing all of them." Faye nipped with an impish grin.
"Gawd, are you still going at that?" the redhead sighed in exasperation. "Sometimes you're just unbelievable, Faye-chan."
"Heh. Alright, sorry. Sometimes I just can't help myself." the blonde apologized.
Shinji's screen suddenly popped up next to Asuka's. "Still, whoever thought that Ayanami would be so good at that game? I mean, she won everytime!" he said, joining the conversation.
"Hmph. Who invited you?" Asuka sniffed.
"Aww. Don't be like that, Asuka-chan." Faye chided.
As the other three pilots started to have a protracted arguement about Shinji's decision to include himself in their 'private' conversation, their voices suddenly faded in Rei's hearing. It was their manner toward her that filled her thoughts, looming over her and drowning their chatter. -Faye-san just asked what was the matter with me. All of them bother to include me in their conversation. Maybe they DO consider me as their...-
"Ahh..." she blurted again, her blush deepening as all three stopped speaking to look at her questioningly. "I'd like us to..play..again sometime." she said hesitantly, not knowing what to expect.
It was Asuka who first responded. "I'd like that, Rei-chan. More than you'd ever know." the redhead answered with a warm, friendly smile. The others voiced their agreement as well with their own smiles.
-Ah! Here it is again.- she realized as she felt a sense of joy and wonder swell in her chest, filling her body as she gazed at the smiling faces of her friends. Rei wondered if there was anyway to live everyday with this buoyant feeling. However, it was at that moment when Misato's delayed broadcast suddenly reached them all, shattering Rei's brief moment of bliss with a tense yet ominously garbled shout.
"Wa-ch ou-! Ang-ls c-min- y-ur way!"
Almost immediately Rei felt two hollow booms explode in the general direction of the pier, and only had enough time for her eyes to widen before Asuka's agonized screams filled her ears.
-----------
Chapter 03 END
-----------
Author's notes:
Thanks to Rahhel and the others for reviewing. Applied fixes on the previous chapters based on his input. :D
XD Ok, regardless of how you feel right now please take a moment to review the chapter. I really need some reader feedback especially regarding how the different characters are turning out in the fic. Who knows, your input might help speed up the creation of the next chapter(I just hope I won't be too busy with work again). :D
Pls Review! If you've got questions regarding the fic don't hesitate to ask me as well. :D
QandA:
1.) Ok, regarding the UNO scene. I'm not entirely sure if my rules are correct since I based it on an UNO clone that I play in the PC. If I missed the core rules of the game, just think that from the time of the Second Impact to 2015 the game evolved enough to include the rules that were illustrated.
Thanks again to all who waited patiently and read this. Don't forget that review now. :D